3 Common Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Need To Stop Making

If you are serious about making a success of your business, it’s vital that you understand what steps you need to take to do so. A crucial part of launching a venture is having a plan in place and having the discipline to follow the plan through.

There’s a common misconception that startup success is a result of luck, or simply family ties – as often it seems that people with links to the business industry tend to do the best within it. However, that isn’t the case, when it comes to how successful a brand is, it’s all down to the steps that are taken.

There are a lot of commonly made mistakes that business owner after business owner makes. These mistakes can lead to your business failing to take off in the way that you hoped it would, which is why making sure that you don’t make them is so important.

With that in mind, below is a guide to three mistakes that you should avoid making when starting a business.

Failing to invest in expert help

When it comes to running a startup, money is always tight, that’s part of being an entrepreneur. However, just because you only have a small budget to work with, that doesn’t have to mean that you can’t invest in help from the experts, should you need it. A key area of running a business is marketing, which is why it’s so important to get help for this area, should you require it. Say, for instance, you aren’t sure how to utilize social media marketing effectively, you may find it helpful to use a social media marketing agency. The fact is that it’s not about not spending money, it’s about being mindful of how you use the funds that you have.

Not taking competitors seriously

Another common mistake that a large number of startups make is failing to take competitors seriously. A lot of business owners make the mistake of thinking that they have no direct competitors, when actually that isn’t the case at all. Almost every business has competitors, that’s just part of being in the industry. Having competitors isn’t the issue, the issue is not being aware of them. If you are going to make a success of your business, then you need to know what it takes to do so, and your competitors can be helpful for showing you the steps that you should take.

Not setting achievable goals

Something that far too many new entrepreneurs do is fail to set achievable goals. The fact is that when you’re new to running a business, you can be so excited about the concept of wowing the world with your idea and making it big, that you can be a little too optimistic. When it comes to the goals that you set as a business owner, it’s vital that they are achievable. If you set goals that aren’t achievable, you’ll fail to meet them and may end up feeling like you’re failing, when this isn’t the case at all.

There you have it, a guide to three of the most common mistakes that new entrepreneurs need to stop making.

John Maddox is a father, serial entrepreneur, CEO of Serious Startups, Partner in Ideashares, Founder of YouPaidFor.IT, public speaker, tech startup investor, consultant and mentor. Over the last several years he has worked with publicly traded companies, startups and small to mid-cap companies. He specializes in business logic, marketing strategy, web and mobile application development and helping driven individuals to become more successful.
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